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Published in 2008, "[t]he first major biography of the Borgias in thirty years" (from the jacket flap), The Borgias and Their Enemies: 1431-1519
is exactly what you'd expect: A nonfiction account of the rise and fall of Pope Alexander VI and his children, most notably Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia. And it's a very readable one at that! In fact, it's so readable that I need someone in the know to tell me if this author, Christopher Hibbert, is by chance any relation to Eleanor Hibbert a/k/a Jean Plaidy, because I felt like I was reading Madonna of the Seven Hills all over again!I don't mean that in a bad way. I found it very interesting that the research and conclusions ran so amazingly parallel and that Christopher Hibbert's fast moving style is so reminiscent of Plaidy's fiction writing. Not to mention the identical last names raising a bit of a question. :-) I'm still working on my fascination with the Borgias, but with the things I've read so far, I'm coming to the conclusion that Lucrezia may have received a seriously undeserved bad rap by being the daughter of a corrupt pope and the sister of a cruel megalomaniac. I have a few more books on the subject to investigate, but for now I highly recommend this work to anyone looking for a recent publication on this notorious family.
